“But we have to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15 32).
The Sisters of Life, who have their Centre for Life in the rectory of St. Peter’s Church, run a ministry for those who have had an abortion called “Hope and Healing.” This ministry is intended to help bring Christ’s “light into the midst of darkness.” Through this ministry, the Sisters of Life invite those who have had an abortion, or helped an individual to receive one, to “step into His mercy and receive a new beginning.”
This ministry, called “Hope and Healing,” is so important because it is central to the kind of healing which Christ came into the world to bring to all people.
Sadly, so often when a person does something wrong she/he thinks that God is no longer interested in them and that they are condemned forever. This kind of thinking is so opposite to the message of Christ and that of the Church. In fact, the idea that any person is without hope and cannot be saved is the work of the Devil. The kind of darkness and despair that cause a person to think that she/he is lost, and without hope, is exactly the kind of thinking that Jesus came to dispel and cast out. Sin can lead all of us to think that we are lost and no longer loved by God. When we give our lives over to despair, the darkness can overwhelm us and we are inclined not to resist sin as we think we are already lost to God’s love. However, as the readings this Sunday proclaim, no one is ever lost to God’s love.
In fact, perhaps the best summary of Christ’s mission is found in today’s Gospel story from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 15: 1-3; 11-32), which tells the story of the Prodigal Son and his loving father and judgemental brother. The father goes out of the way to be reconciled to both of his sons. When the younger son returns, the father is not interested in chastising him, but in restoring him to his original dignity as a beloved child, as he gives the command: “’Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15: 22-24).
It is easy to understand why we humans could think that our sins could make us disposable to God. This is often how we treat one another. In our individualistic and consumer society, some people are only interested in other people for their own selfish reasons. When a person is no longer of value to them, they block them or find someone else to satisfy their ego needs. Often too, we are given false ideas about God’s love by our parents, teachers and sometimes even by religious figures. These messages can make us think that just as we are only pleasing to some people if we behave as they like, so too God is only interested in us if we behave. Yet, God’s love for us is unconditional and eternal.
I can remember once I was invited to a family home for dinner. At the meal was a young girl who was preparing for her First Communion. This young girl was not a big fan of vegetables. At one point in the meal, the mother announced to me that I was to tell this particular young girl that God only loved little girls who ate their vegetables and that only little girls who ate their vegetables could make their First Communion. When I heard this, I happily announced that this was not true at all and that God loved everyone, especially little girls who did not eat their vegetables. The look of joy that overtook this young girl made me quite certain that I was at that moment proclaiming the Gospel of Christ’s love for all people. Needless to say, I was never invited back to that home. The Gospel message is not always well received!
For me this is an example of how the messages we sometimes receive from the world can make us think that God will stop loving us when we do something that is not good for us. Although they might be intended for our own good, in an effort to keep us on the right path, sometimes rules, and the messages that we receive from authority figures, can make us think that we only have value if we keep to the right path. With God, however, we always have the value that He gave us when He created us as His beloved daughters and sons—always! No one is disposable to God.
The message of Christ is that we are always His beloved children and that we never lose this dignity. Jesus always welcomes us back. We simply need to turn back to Him and receive His forgiveness. When we turn back to Him, the Lord will always come running to joyfully meet us and restore us to our dignity, as the father in the story of the Prodigal Son.
We hear this love of God for His people expressed in the first reading this Sunday from the Book of Joshua. The first line of this reading states: “Today, I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt” (Joshua 5:9a). What the disgrace of Egypt refers to is the slavery which had bound the people in Egypt. When God brings the People of Israel to the Promised Land, He is restoring them to their dignity, as the loving father restored the Prodigal Son. For years, they had been slaves and subject to other rulers. The Prodigal Son, though he thought he was free, was the slave of his own passions and desires. These passions drove him out of his father’s home and made him a slave, who ate the food of pigs—a great indignity for the Jewish people. The Gospel beautifully states that he found his freedom and reclaimed it “when he returned to himself. “ When we are enslaved by anger, addiction or fear, we are not ourselves. As we gain freedom, and the hope of being free of these things, “we return to ourselves.” How many times have you heard people say about their anger, addiction or fear: I am not myself any more.” Without judgement, God invites us to be ourselves again.
Paul writes in this Sunday’s second reading from his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “Brothers and Sisters: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! All of this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Corinthians 5: 17-19). Just as the father in the story of the Prodigal Son goes rushing to meet the Son, so too Jesus became one of us to rush to our defense, and He wishes to remove all our sins to give us a new beginning. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Lord wishes to remove our sins and give each of us a new beginning. We are always invited to set aside our sins and regrets and find a new beginning with the Lord. This is something particularly important to remember as we celebrate this Jubilee Year as Pilgrims of Hope.
The Story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most powerful stories in the Gospel. It has so many dimensions that multiple books have been written about it. The predominant message is about the loving father and his relationship with all of his children. The elderly father runs down the road to greet his son as soon as he is within sight. It gives the impression that he was searching for him on the horizon each day. Once he greets his son, there is no lecture or questions about his behavior. The father restores his son to his dignity as soon as he is able. Immediately the son is returned to his place in the family and a celebration ensues. The same loving father seeks out the elder brother who cannot believe that the father is welcoming this sinful brother back. The father’s love is for all his children. The elder brother reminds us that we should never be scandalized by the love and mercy of God. There will be many in Heaven that might surprise us. I recall once a man saying, “If my ex-wife is there, I am not going.” Many righteous people are in as much need of conversion as those who are able to acknowledge themselves as sinners.
Absolutely everything about Christ’s message is directed towards the salvation of all people. This is also the mission of His Church. All of the sacraments have as their end the salvation of those for whom they are celebrated. In this Lenten season in particular, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is intended for those who are already baptized to seek out God’s forgiveness and return to His loving mercy. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we acknowledge our sins and ask for God’s healing grace to return to Him. The Sacrament of Reconciliation allows us to bring the light of Christ’s love into the darkness of our despair. If we confess and turn away from sin, there is no sin that Christ and His Church will not forgive.
In the coming weeks, throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto, parishes will be holding times for additional confessions during the Day of Confessions that are being held in parishes throughout the diocese. This is a time when all will be welcomed back gently and lovingly to the Church. Some people wonder what the priest will say to them if they have not been to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for thirty or forty years. My guess is that the priest will simply say “welcome.” When it has been so long since our last confession that we do not know what to say, we simply need to ask how to proceed with the sacrament. There is also a card in the bulletin this weekend that was prepared by the Archdiocese to assist people to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If a person is nervous about approaching a priest that she/he knows, it is possible to consult the times of confession at another parish and to visit there to celebrate anonymously with another priest. Ultimately, it is Christ who is confessed to and the priest is only an instrument of Christ’s loving forgiveness. Through this sacrament, we cast away the darkness and despair that sin can cast upon us, and free ourselves for the light of Christ’s saving grace. At St. Peter’s Church, the Day of Confessions will take place on Saturday, April 12th from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. There will be different priests here throughout the day. Confessions will also be heard by different priests on the evening of Thursday, April 10th as the Sisters of Life host the Source here at the parish at 7:00 pm.
It is such a joy to be forgiven, to be loved, and to know that we have a value that can never be destroyed by sin. God sent His only Son into the world that we might know this love and grace. In the season of Lent, we are invited to turn back to Christ and know this love through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. With Christ, and His Church, there is no condemnation for anyone who repents of their sin. The message of Christ and His Church, no matter what our past and sins, is that which Paul announces today in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “Brothers and Sisters: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). What a wonderful message as we celebrate this Jubilee Year as Pilgrims of Hope.
May this season of Lent be a time for all of us to celebrate Christ’s love in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor—St. Peter’s Church—Toronto, Ontario
This reflection based upon the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C: Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12; Psalm 34; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; and Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32.
